Not to everyone's taste

I've been peddling sex toys for quite a while, more than a few years at this point. There was a short initial sojourn into the industry, followed by several jobs in unrelated fields, but I found my way back behind the counter of an adult-oriented store a few years back and here I sit today.

Consequently, my friends and family have been aware of where my paycheques have been coming from for a sizeable span of time. It's not something I'm ashamed of doing, I see no reason why I need to keep my profession a secret. Granted, it's a rare venue where I'd be loudly proclaiming a professional familiarity with a spectrum of adult movies and sundry lubricants. I tend to keep my own counsel in most public forums, but I don't shy away from direct questions.

One might wonder then how my employment is received by those same friends and family. The short answer is; mixed. The more complete answer is a bit more telling however.

Most of my friends are quite sex-positive. The topic produces no discomfort or stress. Some of them, upon discovering what I do for a living are quite excited. They'll pull together a staggering list of items that they want to know if I carry or can get for them. Some will eagerly want to know where I work so they can check it out. Others have only wanted to know when my shifts happened to be so they could plan their visits to times when I was not behind the counter. For some folks, it's a bit awkward to buy or rent sexual materials from someone you know, especially if you aren't having sex with them. I can completely understand that. I'm just glad they're still willing to contribute their funds into my establishment. There've also been a few who when they learned where I worked, crossed this store off their lists of places to visit. Again, I can understand their cowardice. It seems that most of my friends give my management of a porn store in much the same way they would if I was a welder or department store employee. Great I can pay rent, but it's not relevant to who I am in their eyes. Upon further reflection, all of my friends are sex-positive. Given my general outlook on life and personality quirks, I don't seem to find much in common with people who aren't.

My family tends to be a bit murkier. In many ways, I tend to stand out amidst my relations. There are at least a half dozen issues where I do not agree with the general trend evinced by kin. My own parents are less than ecstatic about my job. They do happen to care that I'm doing well professionally and enjoying myself, but they don't care to know any of the details. Other relations will on occasion ask me about whether I'm still in the same line of work or what it's like. Quite often this puzzles me for a moment while I decide if they are asking the question in polite curiosity or walking into a conversation they'd prefer not to have entered simply because their mouth went into autopilot attempting to catch up on current events with me. The problem is that most of them seem to subscribe to a more conservative morality and religious bent, but can and will reveal unexpected opinions, insights, or views that run counter to the demeanor they're projecting. If you've never stumbled across your aunts discussing a past tryst with wry humor, when they'd never let on they were anything other than the poster-women for proper Christian behavior, it can damn near cause a stroke in an unsuspecting nephew. To put it bluntly, it seems to be a part of my genetic heritage to be impossible to read. Screw poker, we'll just keep more below the surface than the Antarctic ice sheet.

Enjoy the weekend folks!